World Science Scholars Hosts Science Festival for Gifted Students From 15 Countries and 6 Continents

NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- World Science Scholars (WSS) is an initiative of the World Science Festival that selects a small number of gifted high school students from around the world to explore disciplines at the forefront of science through online courses taught by experts in those fields. To celebrate the fifth year of the program and to provide an opportunity for the scholars to meet each other and some of the program's instructors, WSS hosted an in-person festival from September 28 to October 2, 2022.

Scholars from the 2020 and 2021 cohorts, along with a family member, were invited to attend an all-inclusive trip to New York City to participate in the festival. A total of thirty three scholars and respective family members participated in a variety of activities, exploring both academics and cultural aspects of New York City. The festival included a series of talks from eminent scientists, many of whom have taught WSS courses, lab tours at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center and New York University, and a student panel at Columbia University. Cultural activities included visits to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and sightseeing from the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. During these activities, scholars engaged in discussions around new and exciting scientific fields. They also bonded with their peers over their shared love of math and science, and formed what promise to be lasting friendships.

The festival helped realize a major goal of the WSS program: to bring together some of the brightest and most ambitious young minds from across the world, and expose them to scientific fields, opportunities, and renowned scientists who can help broaden their outlook on how they can engage in science to change the world.

World Science Scholars (WSS), a program of the World Science Festival, selects a small group of high school students from around the world with extraordinary mathematical talent and provides them with an unparalleled opportunity to apply their abilities to unexplored disciplines. Guided by world-renowned experts, scholars examine ways that advanced mathematics skills can be applied to solve complex challenges in a wide range of scientific fields.

Participants in the WSS program currently hail from across the United States and 30 additional countries across six continents. In addition to their passion for mathematics, scholars' interests range from astrophysics and quantum physics to bioinformatics and combinatorics to climate change and neuroscience. They are able to expand their knowledge in these areas through participation in the program.

Thanks to the close interaction between scholars and professors, the WSS program has served as a stepping stone for scholars to obtain opportunities that often are only available to college students:

• Kayla (2020 cohort) is a high school student in New York High who spent a summer as a researcher with the Professor Uljin CUNY Advanced Science Research Center after taking Ulijn's WSS course.
• Emma (2019 cohort), now a student at Harvard University, is the Founder & Academic Director of the Wolfram Middle School Summer Camp, which she created after taking a WSS course with Stephen Wolfram.
• Pritivik (2018 cohort), a Dubai high school student, works as a student researcher at Arizona State University's Beyond Center under the mentorship of Professor Sara Walker after taking her WSS course.

The World Science Festival (WSF) produces original live and digital content that brings scientific discovery, insight and perspective to a broad general audience.

Our flagship live event, the World Science Festival, is an unprecedented annual tribute to imagination, ingenuity and inventiveness. Through programming that spans a broad range—from vibrant discussions and debates to works of theater and film—world-class scientists, leading thinkers, and renowned artists take science out of the laboratory and into the streets, theaters, museums, and public halls of New York City, making the esoteric understandable and the familiar fascinating. In March 2016, WSF launched the World Science Festival Brisbane, bringing its distinctive programming to new audiences and establishing the first annual Festival outside of New York. The Festival's live events have attracted over 3.3 million people worldwide, and millions more have viewed our programs online. 

World Science U is WSF's online education platform, offering multi-layered, in-depth master classes in science, guided by renowned scientists, for students and lifelong learners around the world.

SOURCE World Science Foundation